I Always Get Asked Out When I'm Wearing This Perfume

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Even though I don't share the same genetic makeup as a woman, I've done my homework on the best sexy perfumes for women, men, ~everyone~. When it comes to making a flirty first impression, tho, sexy isn't necessarily universal. Not everyone wants to smell like cake batter (ahem, my fave vanilla perfumes) or a roll of incense (like the best patchouli perfumes). It's all part of finding your balance, discovering your perfect note that smells as if it were custom-made for you.

Are you all about floral perfumes? Do you prefer to smell like a rich vacationer on a private island? Or is your vibe more boozy, dark jazz club? No matter what type of sexy perfume you're on the hunt for, you've come to the right place, as I've compiled all of my top picks for every preference, scent fam, and vibe. A spritz or so of these and, believe it or not, your signature scent can and will influence your dating game (or ya know, just make you feel like a hottie at home).

Overall, rest assured, you can count on me and my well-trained sniffer to guide you through my top perfume picks ahead, plus how to choose one you'll love for a long time and a good time.

Room Service Eau de Parfum

Listen, I’ll never forget the day I went to the Barney’s fragrance counter in 2016 and the sales associate convinced me to spend a fraction of my salary on this perfume. But because this scent is so hot and ~delicious~, I still reach for it almost a decade later. Lemme explain.

Upon first spritz, I immediately fell in love with the notes of mandarin orange and violet dancing all around my head. Of every perfume I’ve tested, this one invokes the sexiest, chicest vibes—like I’m in an expensive hotel room with a date sipping a bottle of something I can’t actually afford. If your idea of hot is top-shelf liquor, velvet drapes, and a lit fireplace, you'll suddenly be blushing once you spray this on.

• Key notes: Orchid, black amber, and sandalwood

• Size: 0.67, 1.7, 3.4 oz

Glowing customer review: “Smells like Carrie Bradshaw in 1999—classic New York Scent!"

Donna Born In Roma Eau de Parfum

True story: While wearing this, someone came up to me at the bar to tell me I was the best-smelling girl in the room... and it wasn't my date," says beauty editor Beth Gillette. "It's a floral perfume that's grounded with warm, slightly spicy bourbon vanilla, so it has a lot of depth and sultriness compared to all the other bright, fresh florals in my collection." The sillage on Donna Born in Roma is also magnificent, so if you like people to smell you as you walk into the room, you'll be pleased with how much people around you will be able to pick on this scent. FWIW, if you love this scent but want something even sweeter, try Valentino Donna Born in Roma Intense—the vanilla note is majorly dialed up here.

• Key notes: Jasmine, pink pepper, blackcurrant, bourbon vanilla

• Size: 0.33, 1, 1.7, 3.4 fl oz

Glowing customer review: "Love the scent! It’s one of my favorites to use for a date night and i receive lots of compliments."

Grapefruit Generation Eau de Parfum

All of my scents have a specific purpose for when I’m wearing them. For me, Grapefruit Generation is the perfume I spray when I’m lounging around the house on a rainy day and want to feel put-together and special. The bright, fruity grapefruit is front and center, ofc, but it also mixes in some salty musk and fresh tuberose notes to make the fruitiness smell more complex. When the Temptations sang “I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day,” they were speaking about this perfume—because it 100 percent evokes the warm vibes and sunshine.

• Key notes: Elm, tuberose, grapefruit, natural musk

• Size: 1.7, 3.4 oz

Glowing customer review: “Something about this is intoxicating to me and I can’t stop smelling it. Perfect for warm weather.”

Fleur Du Désert

If I'm going to be snuggling up to someone in a dark movie theater or sipping drinks in candlelit bar, I'm absolutely wearing this spicy, floral Louis Vuitton fragrance. I never knew jasmine could smell so bold and ~intoxicating~ instead of its usual fresh profile. But the combo of jasmine, cinnamon, rose, and ambrette give this a whole lot more depth and sexiness. I haven’t found a single person this doesn’t smell good on, let alone someone who hasn’t fallen in love with it the second I let them sniff my bottle.

• Key notes: Cinnamon, rose, agarwood, ambrette, jasmine

• Size: 3.4, 6.8 oz

Glowing customer review: “Surprisingly, on my skin, the honey accord comes out beautifully and the jasmine is magnificent. The oud is there, floating around but held at bay by all the other notes.”

Chance Eau Fraîche Eau de Parfum Spray

Chanel No. 5 is quintessential chic… but the patchouli and powdery notes can feel a bit dated to some noses (including mine). However, Chance Eau Fraiche has that same sophisticated, hot factor, but with citrus, fruity, and spicy notes that bring it into the 21st century. IMO, it’s the flirty, fun younger sister to No. 5.

• Key notes: Lemon, water hyacinth, pink pepper, vetiver, patchouli

• Size: 1.2, 1.7, 3.4 oz

Glowing customer review: “This fragrance smells so clean. I receive a lot of compliments and it lasts all day. Well worth buying the largest size.”

Rouge Trafalgar

Not shockingly, this pink-tinged perfume smells like all of my favorite fruits: Cherries, strawberries, black currants, and raspberries, all muddled together. It’s so fresh and juicy, but has a lil bit of musk to round it out so I don’t smell like a fruit salad. It’s truly delectable—I just wanna smell myself all day when I’m wearing it.

• Key notes: Strawberry, cherry, black currant, musk

• Size: 4.25, 8.5 oz

Glowing customer review: “I think most people judge it solely from its fruity opening but to me this fragrance seems very couture. It has a certain dustiness that makes me think of the textile smell.”

Oud & Rose on Fire

The way this under-$40 perfume stands up next to my spensy, high-end fragrances is wild. But the combo of plum, pear, pink pepper, oud, and saffron notes have such a layered, rich scent that fully could cost quadruple the price and I wouldn’t bat an eye. The plum and pear notes play very well within this potion, helping to make the spicier notes to hit just right and not be overbearing.

• Key notes: Pink pepper, oud, saffron, myrrh

• Size: 1.7 oz

Glowing customer review: “I had to stop everything I was doing after smelling this just so I could leave a review. This perfume is delectable, delightful, and daring.”

Replica Matcha Meditation Eau de Toilette

I love a sweet, gourmand perfume as much as the next person (who doesn’t wanna smell delicious?!), but I also don’t want something that’s too overpowering or dominates my natural scent. Enter: Matcha Meditation from Replica, which is filled with herbal matcha tea notes that ground the fragrance, plus ultra-sweet white chocolate for a creamy finish. It's yummy and edible, but with an adult twist, IMO. Each time I select this perfume for the day, the matcha tea notes have me ready to go to the nearest coffee shop and order up a piping hot cup.

• Key notes: Green tea, orange blossom, white chocolate

• Size: 3.4 oz

Glowing customer review: "As a matcha lover, this is a very good resemblance to matcha. Matcha has a really distinctive smell compared to other types of tea, and this is very identical to Starbucks matcha latte. Creamy matcha with underlying white chocolate.”

Eau Rose

Some might think of rose as a powdery scent that smells more grandma than "sexy." Eau Rose is the contrary. It’s unmistakably rose, but paired with geranium, white honey, and blackcurrant, it makes me go feral with the added sticky sweetness. Rose is such a timeless fragrance note, which in itself can smell sultry, but the sexiness of this perfume is definitely more coy and reserved, focusing on the soft, ultra-stereotypically feminine side of things.

• Key notes: Blackcurrant, jasmine, Virginia cedar, white honey

• Size: 3.4 oz

Cosmo review: "Every time I wear this it makes me want to write the most elaborate love letters to someone. This is the kinda fragrance that will have someone confessing their love to you or you to them. It 1000 percent was developed with love in mind." — Stixx Mathews, contributor

Tobacco Vanille

When people use the phrase “smelling like money,” this must’ve been the fragrance the person was wearing because this legit smells like Daddy Warbucks has entered the building. And what's sexier than a wad of cash? It opens up with strong hints of the tobacco leaf and tobacco blossom, but the real gem is in the dry down—that’s where you’ll be immersed in vanilla cacao for a long time… at least until you dry clean or wash your clothes, that is. It also helps to know that this was thee chosen scent of Harry Styles, my sexiest man alive (before he launched Pleasing, of course).

• Key notes: Tonka beans, dried fruits, vanilla

• Size: 0.3, 1, 1.7, 3.4 oz

Cosmo review: "The first time I sniffed this on a—let's be honest, very rich, very hot—friend my freshman year of college, I'd dreamed about owning my own bottle ever since. Now that I do, I bring it out for special occasions when I want to douse myself in the dreamy scent. For a vanilla perfume, it's not too sweet at all, thanks to the tobacco notes throughout. I love it so much." — Beth Gillette, beauty editor

Santal 33 Eau de Parfum

When I think of cult-favorite perfumes (ahem, the coveted and $$$ Baccarat Rouge 540 by Maison Francis Kurkdijan), Santal 33 by Le Labo is always one of them. Those iris and cardamom notes running throughout the scent palette will draw any fragrance aficionado in. “Whenever I smell this on someone, I immediately know they have taste, and I find any reason to get closer to them to get a second whiff,” says beauty editor Beth Gillette.

• Key notes: Papyrus, sandalwood, leather, amber

• Size: 1.7 oz

Glowing customer review: ”The hate on this is so unwarranted. It's unfortunately one of those "it's cool to hate on this" scent because of how popular it got. This is my second most complimented scent. Its performance and projection is top notch. Every person you see will ask what you're wearing and it smells unreal.”

Fenty Eau de Parfum

Want to smell like Rihanna, the definition of hot? Spritz on her Fenty Eau de Parfum, and you can. Upon first sniff, I found the patchouli a little overpowering. When I went to give it a second chance, the Bulgarian rose caught me in the dry down, and I’ve been locked in with her ever since. The spicy base notes give this a major kick at first, but then I start to get hints of the bright, fruity blueberry and tangerine which give it a juiciness that just oozes the confidence RiRi is known for.

• Key notes: Blueberry, tangerine, geranium, patchouli

• Size: 0.33, 2.5 oz

Glowing customer review: “At first glance, Fenty perfume had me captivated. Its amber glass bottle is sleek and elegant. This is a very sophisticated fragrance. It's a glorious blend of floral and fruity notes, with hints of spice and musk.”

Daisy Eau So Intense Eau de Parfum

Intense Daisy was the first luxury perfume I bought with my college refund check, back in the days when the intense version came in a now discontinued black bottle with gold flowers. The bright strawberry, honey, and jasmine notes drew me in, reminding me why the original perfume is so likeable but with a more sophisticated twist. I fear that I’ll be stuck like glue with this timeless perfume until Marc Jacobs no longer produces it—which I hope is never.

• Key notes: Pear, jasmine, rose vanilla, moss

• Size: 1.7, 3.4 oz

Glowing customer review: “I am very picky when it comes to fragrances. That being said, I LOVE this perfume. The scent is long-lasting, but not overbearing. Both my mom and boyfriend also love this fragrance. This is my favorite!”

Glossier You Eau de Parfum

I am Glossier HQ alum, and I still swear by this cult-favorite perfume years after I hung up my pink jumpsuit for good. The musky yet smooth notes open up a detailed scent profile on my body that creates my own unique scent. It's fresh-out-the-shower clean vibes. And genuinely smells like me, but better.

FYI: It's been slightly reformulated, FYI, but still gives “fresh” in a slightly different way. Not a bad thing, just definitely different from what I remember.

• Key notes: Pink pepper, iris, ambrox

• Size: 0.27, 1.7, 3.4 oz

Glowing customer review: “This is definitely a potential youthful classic. It makes me think of 2020/2021 and maybe being a young woman’s first test run with non-teen perfumes. I love that for me it really sticks to my clothes and has great sillage.”

Sunkissed Goddess Eau de Parfum Spray

Sunkissed Goddess is basically sunshine in a bottle, thanks to the mix of tropical and creamy notes that immediately transport me to a beach vacation. It's also not too intense or heavy, per my testing, so it's great to spritz on after a day in the sun when you want to smell beachy and fresh without a cloying, strong perfume. IMO, it's fully itsy-bitsy-yellow-polka-dot-bikini-worthy.

• Key notes: Neroli, coconut, tiare flower

• Size: 1.7 oz

Glowing customer review: ”It is the most sophisticated beachy scent I've ever smelled. With every movement you get a whiff of the most beautiful floral tropical scent. If you've been looking for the perfect summer scent, then Kilian's Sunkissed Goddess will be just that!”

Mojave Ghost Eau de Parfum

I’m a fan of anything Byredo puts out. Their perfumes can do no wrong, and Mojave Ghost is a prime example: The subtle woodiness of the perfume is a perfect gateway fragrance for those curious of trying woods but fear smelling like lumber. It's combined with fresh florals that bring this otherwise woody scent to a softer place (think: a bonfire on a secluded, New England beach in your crisp linens).

• Key notes: Ambrette, magnolia, violet, sandalwood

• Size: 1.7, 3.4 oz

Cosmo review: “As soon as I entered adulthood and didn't have a fave perfume, I went on a hunt to find my signature scent, and Mojave Ghost was the answer to my prayers. It's the ideal blend of masculine and feminine notes, and the smell TRULY lasts all day. While it's on the pricier side, you really only need a spritz or two for the marriage of florals and woodiness to engulf your skin, so the bottle is sure to last for a while!” — Jasmine Hyman, assistant shopping editor

La La Love Extrait de Parfum

Wanna smell like your favorite chic dive bar? Okay, prob not, but Perfumehead mastered that smell anyway—in a cool and totally delectable way. You could also think of La La Love as reminiscent of what you’d imagine Joan Crawford's dressing room to smell like on a Hollywood set: cognac, lipstick, and gourmand perfume.

• Key notes: Saffron, vanilla absolute, black tea, incense, tonka bean

• Size: 1.7 oz

Glowing customer review: “This is my favorite niche fragrance of all time!” says one reviewer.

Nostalgia Eau De Parfum

What's sexier than a fond memory? This unisex scent. (Obvi, all perfumes are unisex—who said vanilla and florals are reserved for femme people?!—but this one doesn't veer too traditionally masculine or feminine.) Inspired by happy memories, it's meant to be worn and loved by all. The notes of grapefruit, mint, and violet leaf come together to create a vibrant image, with the vanilla adding the perfect finishing sweetness.

Better yet, Ourside is a Black-owned fragrance brand that I just have to shout out. They only use clean ingredients, yet somehow make one of the longest-lasting perfumes in my collection.

• Key notes: Jasmine, grapefruit, amber, patchouli

• Size: 0.3, 1.7 oz

Glowing customer review: "This is my favorite natural perfume scent. It is fresh and new yet timeless. It makes me feel alive when I wear it."

Stella Eau de Parfum

This delightful surprise of a fragrance is playful, bursting with the fresh and invigorating notes of blood orange, intertwined with the subtle sweetness of freesia. It's not heavy either, so if you usually think florals smell mature and dated, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how juicy and uninhibited this one is.

• Key notes: Bitter orange, blood orange, freesia, sandalwood, transparent musk

• Size: 7 oz

Glowing customer review: "This is a perfume I forgot about for 10+ years and randomly purchased a bottle because I saw ulta now carries Tocca. I have been absolutely addicted to Stella. I was carrying it around with me all weekend and just opening the cap to sniff it."

How to choose the sexiest perfume for you:

Know your preferences.

Every single scent family can (and does!) smell ~sexy~. But what smells hot to *you* just depends on your vibes and preferences. What scents make your heart thump? Floral, fruity, spicy, or woody? Start by choosing a scent fam you know you’ll enjoy wearing.

Test before you buy.

Always take a perfume on a "scent date" before committing. For instance, ask for a sample before you invest, as some scents can smell different when you get them home. Test them on your wrist (or I like to put them on my ankles or inside my elbow if I don’t totally want to smell like that perfume just yet) and notice how the scent changes throughout the day, how it mixes with your body’s chemistry, and how long it lasts. This will lyk if something is truly full-bottle worthy.

Consider the concentration.

Perfumes come in different intensities. Eau de parfums have a higher concentration of the oil, therefore tend to last longer and have a stronger scent. On the other hand, eau de toilettes are lighter and softer with a lower concentration of oil, so they might need to be reapplied throughout the day. If you want a perfume that’ll last through dancing in a sweaty club, go for an EDP. However, if you prefer quieter perfumes that only the people closest to you can smell and you’re happy to reapply as needed, opt for an EDT.

Why trust ‘Cosmopolitan’?

Stixx Mathews is a beauty contributor at Cosmopolitan with 11 years of experience researching, writing, and editing perfume and beauty stories that range from hair removal in the nether regions for men to wearing acid for deodorant. He’s an authority in all perfume categories but an expert when it comes to what perfumes perform the best for women after testing, sifting and advising testing, every perfume launch to drop over the last decade.

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